Football: Pirates-Dons to do ‘Battle in the Bowl’

Tony Altobelli

SANTA ANA - Two teams going in two different directions face off

Saturday as undefeated Orange Coast College takes on winless Santa Ana

College at the Santa Ana Bowl at 1 p.m.

“I think Santa Ana is a better football team than they’ve shown the

past couple of weeks,” Pirate Coach Mike Taylor said. “Some people had

them right behind Palomar as a top team in the Central Division. They’re

very well coached and they’ll have their guys ready to play.”

Something has to give, as the Pirates (2-0) come into Saturday’s game

with the Mission Conference’s No. 2 offense, while Santa Ana (0-2) has

given up 102 points, more than any team in the conference.

That’s something that should make quarterback Jared Flint anxious for

Saturday’s arrival.

After two games, the sophomore QB has been on a major role, completing

two-thirds of his passes for 587 yards and seven touchdowns.

“Jared has played better in these past two games than I could have

ever imagined,” Taylor said.

Taylor has also been very happy with the solid play of wide receiver

David Castleton.

The freshman transfer from BYU leads the team in receiving yards with

208 and yards-per-catch at 18.9.

“He’s been a pleasant surprise for us so far,” Taylor said. “He’s made

the big catch for us and even though he hasn’t scored yet, he’s come

close and he’s allowed us to get into scoring opportunities.”

Running back Raymond Ohrel is second in the conference with 331

all-purpose yards, but has been slowed this week with an injured leg.

“He’s been taking it easy this week,” Taylor said. “But he should be

ready to go by Saturday.

One Pirate that will not be ready to go is defensive end Chris

Candlish.

The six-foot-six, 260-pound freshman will miss Saturday’s game with an

hyper extended elbow.

To overcome this, Taylor has moved Ronnie Price to the inside

defensive line and moved Willis Manley to the outside.

“It will be tough with Chris not in there, but we should be fine with

Ronnie inside and Willis outside,” Taylor said.

One thing Taylor has stressed to his defense this week is better

tackling.

“We have a big-play type of defense,” Taylor said. “I felt that we let

some tackles slip by us in last two games, so we’ve been really focusing

on stopping the play immediately.”

Sophomore linebacker Doug McDaniel leads the Pirate defense with 18

tackles and freshman linebacker Dustin Davis leads with four quarterback

sacks.

With OCC looking to go 3-0 for the first time since 1991, is there any

concern for a letdown against the Dons?

“As far as a letdown goes, I’m not worried about our guys,” Taylor

said. “I’m more worried about Santa Ana than I am of us. We’ll be ready

to play and I know Santa Ana will be ready, too.”